Three-roller sugar-cane mill with a particularly arranged feed roller



March 15, 1927. A. M- J MEESTERS 1,621,077

THREE-ROLLER SUGAR CANE MILL WITH A PARTICULARLIARRANGED FEED ROLLERFiled Sept. 7. 1926 7 174-0 e n for" H6r'a 2am MI Meesters Patented Mar.15 192?.

U NIT ETD l S YATES;

PATENT" 1 arms;

ABRAHAM MfiRlE JA-N MEESTERS; OF DJ'OKJAK'ARTA, JAVA, DUTCH EAST' INDIES,

A'SSTGNOR 'IO' VI CONSTRUCTIE ATELIER' DER VORSTEN-L'ANDEN, 'GF'1330KJAKARTA, NETHERLANDSEAST'INDIE THREE-ROLLER SUGARZ-CANE MILL WITI-IAPARTICULARLY'ABRANGEDFEED ROLLER.

Application filed September: 7, 1926, Serial No. 133,768, an dlinNetherlands East Indies March 24 1925;

It is the object of the present invention to eliminate stoppage at theentrance of a three roller sugar cane mill, which stoppage now and thenoccurs due to an insufficient gripping action of the mill-rollers andcauses much trouble.

The present invention comprises the applying of a feed roller withlongitudinal grooves or other un-evennesses, which roller is arrangedbetween the top and the front roller of the mill nearer to the frontthan to the top roller and is rotated in the same direction as the frontroller.

The effect of the said roller is still im proved if same is rotated witha 1025% greater circumferential velocity than the mill'rollers(according to the kind of cane).

In the annexed drawing the invention is illustrated by way of anexample.

Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of a threeroller mill with feed rolleraccording to the present invention; and

Fig. 2 shows an end elevation of the same.

Between the top roller 1 and the front roller 2 of a three-roller-mill afeed roller 3 is arranged nearer to the front roller than to the toproller as shown. This feed roller is disposed above the top roller andis driven from a sprocket wheel 4 carried by the shaft of the toproller. By means of a chain 5 this wheel is coupled to another sprocketwheel 6 fastened to a shaft 7,

which carries a toothed wheel 8 meshing with a wheel 9 fastened to theshaft which which carries the feed roller 3, so that the latter isrotated inthe same direction as the front roller 2, the relations i. e.the dimensions of the sprocketand toothed wheels, being such that thecircumferential speed of the feed roller is greater than the said speedof the mill-rollers. The operation of the roller mechanism is asfollows: The material to be ground is fedto the mill at the front overthe top of the feed roller 3. This roller 3 is spaced, asabove-described, closer to the front roller 2 than to the top roller 1.A feed'passage is thus provided between the opposed surfaces of therolls 1 and 3, while'a relatively restricted space is provided betweenthe rolls '2 and 3, which may be just sufficient to allow properclearance. The material supplied over the top of the roll 3 strikes thesurface of the roll 1 and is thereby deflected downward and thebiting'surfaces of the rolls 1 and 3, and,

by reason of the close proximity of roll 3 to roll 2, the material isprevented from working back in to the restricted space between the two.

The spacing between rolls 1 and 3 is such that the opposed surfaces ofsaid rolls which form the feed passage also provide coacting feedsurfaces. The roll 1 is thus caused to have an additional function, i.e., that of serving with the roll 3 as a feed roll while also performingits usual function of a grinding roll. As the rolls 1 and 3 in theirfeed action rotate at'different speeds a new working function isobtained,rthat of providing a differential speed feed motion, wherebythat part of the material engaging the roll 1 is fed forward at asomewhat lower rate of speed than that part of the material engaging theroll 3. The effect of this is to cause a more even and uniformintermixing and distribution or spreading out of V the material underfeed to prevent bunching and to secure a more regular and uniformgripping and pressure action of the rolls 1 and 2 thereon. By thismeans, and as a re sult of the downward and forward forcefeed pressureof the roll 3 on the material,-

due to its faster speed, whereby backward motion of the material 1sreslsted, any tendency to clogging of the rolls 1 and 2, such as occursnormally from an lnsufiicient grip- V ping action of their bitingsurfaces, is prevented.

Vithin the scope of the present invention constructional variations maybe applied e. g. the driving means of the feed roller may start from anunder roller of the mill instead of the top roller, etc.

I claim In a three-roller sugar-mill, the combination, with the top millroller and the front mill roller, of an auxiliary feed roller disposedabove the front roller and over which the material is fed to the mill,said auxiliary any material spaced relatively to the top roller so that.

feed roller being arranged sufliciently close to the front roller toprevent the passage of therebetween and being the adjacent surfaces ofsaid rollers coact for a feed action on the material and to pro-e vide afeed passage for the, downward and forward travel of the material to thehiting surfaces of the top and front rollers, and means for driving saidfeed roller in the same direction as the front roller and at a i highercircumferential speed, th'an'the top roller, whereby through thevariation of speed between the top roller and the auxiliary feed rollerthe material is fed with a differential downward and forward forcefeedpressure to and between the bitingsurfaces of the top and front rollers.

ABRAHAM MARIE JAN MEESTERS.

